


Pillow Talk

by Lysandra



Category: Bartimaeus - Jonathan Stroud
Genre: Fluff, Non-Explicit Sex, Other, Wow I can't believe they're all alive and love each other so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 00:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14273316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lysandra/pseuds/Lysandra
Summary: 4 scenes from Bartimaeus, Kitty, and Nathaniel's life together, all taking place in their bed.





	Pillow Talk

Nathaniel and Kitty woke one morning in November to find a warm body between them.

This was not especially unusual; although Bartimaeus often declined to go to bed with them in the evenings, he usually wound up tucked between them before they woke in the morning, or curled against one of their shoulders in the shape of a small, fluffy sand cat. This morning in particular, he had one arm slung around Nathaniel’s waist and one around Kitty’s as he lay face-down in the sheets. Nathaniel felt a sudden surge of tenderness when he saw him there, as good as asleep, peaceful. Nathaniel reached out to brush a lock of hair away from his face, and the djinni immediately turned his head to look at him.

“ _Finally_ ,” he said. “I thought you were in a coma this time for sure.”

“You could only hope,” said Nathaniel. Something warm and gentle felt to be caught in his chest; he had the urge to cough to dislodge it.

“Indeed,” said Bartimaeus. “You’re always teasing like that.” He wasn’t smiling, but there was a soft crinkle around his yellow eyes. Kitty, on Bartimaeus’s other side, stirred; she rolled into the spirit’s body and cuddled up against him, grumbling quietly. Nathaniel chuckled and did the same, and he felt Bartimaeus’s arm tighten around his waist. He’d clad his usual guise (the young Sumerian) in a set of flannel pajamas, and they were pleasingly soft to the touch.

“Morning,” Nathaniel mumbled into his underarm.

“Good morning,” Bartimaeus repeated cheerily, cheek pressed to the pillow that was placed there especially for him, “Darling.”

Nathaniel groaned. “Must you call me that?” He asked.

“What?” said Bartimaeus. “My darling? My love? My blessed sweetiecakes?” Kitty feigned gagging noises and reached out sleepily with one hand, vaguely attempting to cover Bartimaeus’s mouth with her palm; the djinni grinned mischievously and tangled his fingers with hers.

“All of those,” said Nathaniel.

“But you _like_ it,” Bartimaeus crooned.

“You do turn all pink,” Kitty added with a yawn. “Which is a very good look on you, by the way.”

“That’s not _liking_ ,” Nathaniel argued. “That’s horror.”

Bartimaeus snorted. “No one blushes in _horror_ , honey-buns,” he said.

Much to his dismay, Nathaniel felt his face grow hot, but the corners of his mouth curved up involuntarily. “Whatever you say,” he said. “ _Angel._ ”

Bartimaeus froze. “Wh-,” he said. He relinquished Kitty and rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow, to stare at Nathaniel.

Kitty was laughing. She scrambled into a sitting position so that she could press a kiss to the nape of Bartimaeus’s neck. “Angel,” she repeated. “Of course that’s what you are. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

“Absolute heresy,” said Bartimaeus, after a pause. He shook his head disapprovingly. “You’re lucky the church isn’t in power at the moment, or you’d be in shackles already.” Half his mouth was quirked up in a smile.

“It’s appropriate, isn’t it?” said Kitty. “You’re pretty and sometimes you have wings.” Bartimaeus didn’t respond. Nathaniel leaned up to kiss the corner of his mouth, and then his neck.

“And one could certainly call you vengeful,” he breathed into his throat, and Bartimaeus’s skin broke out in faint goosebumps. “Unfathomable.”

“Someone learned religious history from his tutors,” Bartimaeus said primly. It sounded a bit breathless, odd from a creature who didn’t breathe.

“He’s right, angel,” murmured Kitty, and leaned down to kiss his shoulder. She scratched at the base of his skull with her fingernails, making little circles, and Bartimaeus made a soft noise of genuine pleasure. He stuttered out the beginning of a sentence before Nathaniel kissed his mouth. It was a chaste kiss, soft and sweet.

Bartimaeus was smiling when he pulled away. “Alright, all _right._ You win.” He was practically purring at Kitty’s touch.

“Win what?” said Nathaniel, feigning innocence. Bartimaeus flicked the tip of his nose in mock irritation.

“Now who’s blushing?” Kitty teased, still rubbing Bartimaeus’s scalp gently..

“Djinn do not blush!”

“But I bet your aura’s changed colors, hasn’t it?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Ha! I’m right, aren’t I? Nathaniel, mind putting your lenses in for just a moment?”

“There’s no need for that!” Bartimaeus sat up fully, his face a mask of thinly-concealed horror, and Nathaniel flopped onto his back with a grin.

“I won’t,” he said. “I will spare your dignity.”

“That would imply he has any to begin with,” said Kitty. Bartimaeus shot her a look. “Oh, I’m only teasing, angel,” she said.

It was true that djinn didn’t blush, but Nathaniel could have sworn that he...brightened around the edges.

“You-” Bartimaeus started, but Kitty pressed a good-morning kiss to his mouth and then another, slowly and deliberately, right to the center of his forehead. He chuckled. “Alright,” he said. “I _am_ irresistible, aren’t I?”

“Perhaps, but not for the reasons you think you are.” Nathaniel reached up to splay his fingers over Bartimaeus’s side. It was odd, how comfortable they’d gotten with touching one another. There was no fear there anymore, just soft, warm skin. Bartimaeus raised his eyebrows.

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

Nathaniel suspected that he was blushing again, much to his chagrin. “Nothing, really,” he said.

“No, tell me!”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Kitty. She was smoothing creases out of the oversized shirt she always wore to bed. “Nathaniel thinks you’re ravishing and is being mysterious about it.” But when Bartimaeus puffed up with pleasure, she caught Nathaniel’s eye and smiled knowingly.

* * *

When the three of them went to bed in the evening, Bartimaeus made that noise that he always did, like he’d been abruptly relieved of a terrible burden. He went limp between them, like a cat being held by the scruff of the neck. Their bed was crowded, but warm and comforting.

Nathaniel shifted and heard Bartimaeus yelp when he accidentally rolled onto his hair. Nathaniel moved quickly.

“Sorry,” he said. He heard Bartimaeus snort. “What?”

“Look at you, apologizing for causing me pain.” There was a moment of silence. Something painful lanced through Nathaniel’s chest at the sharp truth that Bartimaeus was pointing out. Though Nathaniel tried his best to care for Bartimaeus and Kitty, the way he’d treated them in the past sometimes twisted sick knots of guilt in his stomach. Looking back on that time, it felt as though they were the actions of another person; he could never imagine wanting to hurt either of them now. But, years ago, he’d been a small, angry, _terrified_ boy, and he’d needed desperately to find control somewhere, to let out some of the hatred that was burning his insides and eating him away. And even after that, when punishing Bartimaeus was no longer a priority (or an option), he’d _needed_ him so fiercely...Nathaniel inhaled.

“You know that I didn’t- It was never my intention to…” Nathaniel cursed himself. No, that was all wrong. “...Sorry.” He didn’t know what else to say. His throat hurt, a little. He took a handful of breaths. “I didn’t know what else to do, I suppose.” He felt Kitty stirring; she half sat up on one elbow.

“I know,” said Bartimaeus gently. “Neither did I.” He glanced up at the woman beside them. “What about you? You, at least, are smart enough to have known better.” It was said teasingly, but Nathaniel could hear the genuine feeling behind it, just a trace of hurt. Nathaniel guessed he was referring to the punishment spell Kitty had inflicted on him. He spoke of it most often with good humor, but it must have been genuinely painful. Three more breaths of silence. The air was thick, pain prickling around the edges of their thoughts.

“I didn’t love you then,” said Kitty simply.

Bartimaeus’s fingers tightened convulsively where they rested on Nathaniel’s hip. He wondered what had passed between them in the moments when Nathaniel wasn’t there. Was their time spent together in the Other Place similar to what he and Bartimaeus had experienced when they’d shared a body? If it was like Kitty had said, a place of pure being, they must have been incredibly close, as good as one. Perhaps it still was so. Nathaniel felt as if the three of them were impossibly tangled up together, each a part of the others.

“Also, you deserved it for forcing me to see you naked,” said Kitty.

Nathaniel sat bolt upright.”What?!”

Bartimaeus was laughing, the tension dispelled. “Oh, don’t go getting all jealous on me, Nat! You got to see it eventually!”

“What _exactly_ did you two do when she summoned you?!” Nathaniel glanced frantically between the two of them as they rapidly dissolved into hysterics.

Kitty put her face in her hands, shoulders shaking with helpless laughter. “ _He said it was traditional_ ,” she wheezed.

* * *

Bartimaeus kissed Nathaniel, long fingers running up his sides. His mouth was as hot and as wet as Kitty's, and when his tongue brushed Nathaniel's an electric energy ran up his spine, scattered through his nerves.

Kitty was resting her hands on Bartimaeus's hips, carressing with her thumbs, and he broke away to look at her over his shoulder, with an alien curiosity that made the hairs stand up on the back of Nathaniel’s neck. He looked at her as though he were regarding something impossibly foreign and infinitely profound.

"Hello," said Kitty, and kissed the djinni. The tone in her voice was assured, and reassuring.

They caught him between their bodies, a coil of trapped flame. His bare skin was so hot it almost burned and he sighed at their caresses. Bartimaeus’s hands found their way into Nathaniel’s hair, then around his waist, and he made to push him down.

“Just hold on a minute,” said Kitty quietly. There was a strength in her voice, a self-possession, that Nathaniel trusted instinctively. He felt himself relax a little whenever she told them what to do. Everything about her felt like safety.

“Want something?” Bartimaeus said. His eyes glinted warmly, but his pupils were large and dark.

“Mm. Here…” Kitty settled herself back against the headboard with a pillow at her back. She patted the space between her thighs. “Sit.”

Bartimaeus looked bemused, but settled himself back against her. “Whatever you say, O mistress mine.” She kissed his neck and he smiled seductively in that way he had - not the smouldering glow that Nathaniel was certain he evoked on purpose before he tackled Nathaniel to the mattress, but the sly look on his face when he anticipated pleasure. Kitty flicked her eyes down once, but Nathaniel knew her - knew _them_ \- well enough to understand her intention. And then Bartimaeus’s thighs were under Nathaniel’s hands and he seemed to realize where this was headed, no more words as his hands slid through Nathaniel’s hair. Nathaniel pressed a trail of hot kisses to his stomach, kissed the place below his navel, moved lower.

He liked this, liked watching Bartimaeus’s eyelids flutter and his lips part at the feeling of Nathaniel’s mouth on him. Kitty’s hands wandered over Bartimaeus’s chest and she kissed at his neck and then, judging by the noise he made, bit. Bartimaeus’s head tipped back. “Angel,” Kitty whispered, and his back arched as he let out a choked laugh that dissolved into a moan. He was never ashamed to take his pleasure, glut himself on it, and at the end of it he went completely silent, mouth open, quivering, as Nathaniel and Kitty breathed, for him and through him.

* * *

The afternoon sunlight filtered in through the blinds, casting a golden glow where the three of them lay lounging upon the bed. It was the piece of furniture that most easily accommodated all of them, especially since Bartimaeus had the tendency to sprawl whenever possible, and so they increasingly ended up here.

“Do you think I would make it to the Other Place?” said Nathaniel suddenly, from where he lay with his head cradled in Bartimaeus’s lap. The words stuck on his tongue. He’d been thinking them with increasing regularity lately, but it felt almost wrong to say them aloud, like he was intruding on the only thing that magicians had failed to take away from Bartimaeus. But he didn’t seem upset or startled by the question; he took a moment to move a strand of hair away from Nathaniel’s eyes before he answered.

“Probably, yes,” said Bartimaeus. “But you’re not going to try, so we don’t need to talk about this.”

“Why not? I-”

“Hush.” Bartimaeus tapped Nathaniel’s temple. “It’s out of the question. Knowing you, you’d find some way to get yourself killed. And what would Kitty do without you?”

“Thanks, Bart,” said Kitty. Nathaniel sat up and shuffled out of Bartimaeus’s lap.

“Kitty…” he started.

“Oh, no! You’re not getting her to talk me into any more foolishness.” Bartimaeus wagged a disapproving finger. Nathaniel frowned, oddly hurt by the rejection. So this was one barrier he was not permitted to cross. “And there’s no need to go all weird and distant on me, now, either,” he added. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. But if I were wrong in my judgement of you, or you were merely unlucky…” Nathaniel turned it over in his mind. It must be a very serious concern if Bartimaeus was willing to admit he might be wrong.

“But the things I could see, could learn. And with my knowledge as a magician…”

Kitty grimaced. “That’s not helping your case, Nathaniel,” she said. “There’s nothing in any book that could help you with something like this.” Nathaniel felt wounded, like Bartimaeus and Kitty both had something that they were keeping from him. It was the pain of a friendless child at the playground, of a teenager overhearing his peers laughing at him. He fought back the urge to snap at them. Why couldn’t they just tell him he was good enough?

“She’s right, you know,” said Bartimaeus. “Forget it. You need to stay big and strong so you can help Kitty mow the lawn when I’m away.”

“It will be difficult for me to simply forget about this,” Nathaniel managed carefully. Bartimaeus sighed.

“Of course it will. You’ll torture me about it for ten years or so and possibly you’ll figure out a way to do it without me. Magicians. I swear.” His words weren’t venomous. If anything, he simply sounded resigned. It seemed that Bartimaeus genuinely feared for Nathaniel’s life, but he knew that he couldn’t really stop him. It was a tired helplessness, Nathaniel thought, come from millenia of being voiceless. And then Nathaniel felt a sudden clarity within him, a rush of certainty, like a key turning in a lock, and it soothed his pain and envy.

“No,” he said. “I won’t, actually. If you don’t want me to do it, I...I’ll respect that decision.” Bartimaeus stared blankly at him, lips parted slightly.

“What?!”

Nathaniel looked down for a moment. “It’s your home. It would be...invasive of me to invite myself in.” He smiled sheepishly, slightly pleased with himself. Bartimaeus blinked.

“You’re serious.”

“Yes. It should be your decision to make. I won’t force it on you. I can’t. I-”

And then Nathaniel found himself quite abruptly being kissed on the mouth.

Bartimaeus was cupping Nathaniel’s face in his hands; he smiled into the kiss, his teeth knocking against the djinni’s briefly. Bartimaeus broke away for a moment to spit out “Bloody incorrigible. That’s what you are-” before kissing him again, and again, and again. And over his shoulder, Kitty’s soft chuckle, and on their skin was the sun.


End file.
